Joseph Allen High, Child Pornography, Missouri 2014

A Springfield man has been sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for receiving and distributing child pornography.

Joseph Allen High, 44, of Springfield, Mo., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 17 years in federal prison without parole.

High pleaded guilty to receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet on Sept. 17, 2014.

High's e-mail address was discovered by federal agents in Illinois during an investigation into a national e-mail network that exchanged child pornography among its members.

More than 1,000 individuals utilized their e-mail accounts to trade images of child pornography with one another.

Agents determined that High had received 17 videos and 72 images of child pornography between Dec. 17, 2012, and Feb. 16, 2013.

The videos included children as young as three or four years old, and children being sexually assaulted by adults.

According to court documents, High sexually abused an 8-year-old girl on multiple occasions.

Agents discovered Internet images of the child victim, clothed and asleep, by typing High's e-mail address into the Google search engine.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney.

It was investigated by the FBI and the Springfield, Mo., Police Department.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/springfield-man-sentenced-17-years-child-porn